I am Carmen A. Summers, RN, FNP-c, a Holistic Nutritionist Provider. During the early days of pandemic, COVID-19; I was living in fear and powerless as a family nurse practitioner, and I was told that there was no treatment for COVID-19.  During that time, health care providers were instructed NOT to treat this respiratory virus since there is no known cure, and were told to tell our patients to stay home and call back if their symptoms worsen. Then, I re-evaluated them to determine if they were severe enough to warrant a trip to the emergency room. This felt like I was abandoning my patients, and I felt I was doing more harm than good by following this course, which did not make sense to me at all.

Doing no harm is a code of conduct that I live by as a nurse and will continue to uphold until I retire as a nurse practitioner.  I abide by the Hippocratic Oath and take it seriously. I will consider the benefit of my patients as my priority and abstain from deliberately and knowingly harming them.  My patients have the right to know the truth and they have the right to decide for themselves what they want to do to their bodies. This is part of the Informed Consent and Patient’s bill of rights. I was fortunate to work with functional medicine providers who promote nutraceuticals, minerals, and vitamins to support recovery from COVID-19 and other respiratory illnesses.  This was my “A-ha” moment and I was able to compare patients who followed my recommendations with those who didn’t. Fortunately, I was not the only healthcare provider to noticed this and make the connections. 

I decided to pursue a path of providing optimum health to as many people I can serve. I began the process of educating myself by getting my certificate in holistic nutrition from the Energetic Health Institute on clean eating and herbal remedies, and committed to a plant-based diet. Education and experience have had a transformative effect on how I feel and think. The school validated that to be healthy, you need to understand the root cause through knowledge about how the body works and using natural medicine and potent supplements that support optimal wellbeing. Based on my experience in medicine, the body has a remarkable ability to heal, repair injuries, fight infection, and restore homeostasis. I am on a mission to achieve and restore the potential healing balance that lies within each of us.